The Brightest Star
by NancyMay
Summary: Since Frank is not coming back and I have written stories about him and Alice and included Alice and Lucie-Jean in a recent story I have gone back to the string and this is my take on writing Frank out of Dr Blake. There may be more. K for now. Tissue warning.
1. Chapter 1

She stood holding the hand on the little girl, staring at the mound of newly dug earth. She had no tears left, she was drained, totally exhausted from nights without sleep and days where all she did was barely function.

Everywhere in the house was a reminder of him, of their four years together, and the biggest reminder was standing next to her.

Something touched her arm, 'Alice,' a soft musical voice, full of tenderness, 'come on, time to go.'

Alice slowly turned to see Jean and Lucien and allowed herself to be guided by them. She would have to face the officers at the Blake's house. Jean had kindly offered to host the wake, and promised to keep it simple.

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Everybody was so kind. Jean had put the children in the studio where they could play and had arranged that someone who didn't know Frank would stay with them and keep them amused.

Lucien kept an eye on his friend and colleague. Frank's death had floored her, a road accident, a blow out on the way home from Melbourne sending the car off the road and into a ditch. Lucien did the autopsy, he would have died instantly he told Alice, but that was no consolation, as she said, he shouldn't have died at all.

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Alice had never expected to love anyone the way she had loved Frank, or to be loved like he had loved her. It had changed her whole perception of life and she had taken to motherhood well. Now all she had left was Lucie-Jean and more memories than she could keep track of. Jean and Lucien had been wonderful. Jean had explained to Lucie-Jean that daddy had gone to help God keep watch over the world. There were so many people that God needed an extra special someone to help him, but he would always watch over her and mummy, she just had to look for the brightest star in the sky.

Lucie-Jean had listened and cried that she wanted daddy too. Jean had held her close and told her to be brave.

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Alice insisted that she would stay in their home, it was where she had had her happiest times and the place her daughter was most familiar with. Lucien agreed with her, staying away would make it harder to go back when she had to.

The nights were the worst, Lucie-Jean would crawl in with her to sleep, but Alice just lay there and looked at her. At one point Jean suggested that she try returning her to her own bed, she couldn't sleep with her mother forever.

'I just can't get up the energy to move.' Alice said one day, when Jean had called in with Bobby and Jenny to play with their friend.

'Alice, you need your sleep,' Jean was gentle she knew what it was like to be widowed so suddenly, 'you're exhausted.'

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Alice took Lucie-Jean home when she came to her and complained she was tired. She excused herself thanking everyone for their kind words and for attending.

The house was quiet and dark, she had closed the curtains and it made the place dismal. Frank liked light so she flung the drapes open and looked out onto the garden. The only light was the moon and stars and the memory of lying on the rug listening to him tell her about the constellations and the myths surrounding them came flooding back.

'Mummy,' Lucie-Jean tugged her hand. She turned and picked her up nuzzling into her curls. 'Aunty Jean said one of the stars is daddy. Which one?'

'Alice took a deep breath to hold the tears in, 'Let's go and see, shall we?' she murmured.

Out in the garden they looked up at the sky. Lucie-Jean pushed two fingers into her mouth and sucked hard, a sure sign she was ready to sleep, that and playing with a curl.

'Which one, do you think?' Alice asked.

Lucie-Jean removed her fingers, and pointed upwards. 'That one.' She decided, 'it's the shiniest.'

'That one it is then.' Alice found herself smiling, for the first time in days, 'better say good night.'

'Night, night, daddy.' Lucie-Jean pushed the fingers back and put her head on her mother's shoulders.

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Alice looked in on her daughter as she went to bed. She was fast asleep, still sucking her fingers. She adjusted the covers over her and kissed her gently.

'Goodnight, my darling,' she whispered.

As she closed her own curtains she looked at the stars.

'Goodnight, Frank.' She whispered.

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Alice woke, alone but strangely at peace. Who knew that a simple story to explain death to a child would offer her the same solace, the comfort to enable her, an educated woman, to sleep deeply for the first time since Frank's passing. It seemed to have worked for her daughter as well, for when Alice went to check on her on her way to the bathroom, she was still fast asleep.

She decided a soak in the bath would help her think about what she was going to do now. She would need to work, and there was only one thing she knew she wanted to do. She would have to arrange for Lucie-Jean to be looked after while she was in the morgue with Lucien, he had promised to keep her job open for her, but he had suggested she take a month off and then come back slowly. Lucie-Jean was only three so she supposed she would need a nanny. Jean would help her with that, she knew, she would know what to look for and what she should offer as a salary. Her musings were interrupted by a timid tap on the door.

'Mummy?' Lucie-Jean called through the door.

'Come in sweetie, I'm in the bath.' Alice smiled, this was one 'joint' activity she wasn't going to pass up.

Her daughter smiled as she entered. She did what she had really wanted the bathroom for then Alice suggested she get in with her, and they could have a splash about together. Alice remembered the first time she had had the little girl in with her, the first time she had been able ask her mummy about the scar across her abdomen. Alice had been honest about it, told her that was how she came to be born, because mummy had been hurt and Uncle Lucien had had to do an operation on her. But it was ok, it didn't hurt, anymore. After that Lucie-Jean would join her mother in the bath when she could.

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Breakfast over, the dishes washed and left on the drainer, some would say she was a sloppy housewife, but she didn't care, not even Jean would mind if she didn't dry the dishes and put them away. Not this once, anyway.

She helped Lucie-Jean put her coat on, it was bright red, Frank had bought it for her.

'I want to go and see Aunty Jean, sweetie.' She told her as she put her own coat on and took the keys off the hook.

'Will all those people be there?' Lucie-Jean hadn't really liked that she couldn't be with mummy all of yesterday, with all the adults around.

'Not today, love,' Alice smiled, she agreed, it had been a bit uncomfortable, 'you can play with Bobby and Jenny in the garden, I expect.'

'Ok,' the little girl's face brightened.

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Jean was pleased to see her visitors, Alice looked much better and she commented on it.

'Thank you, I slept a lot better.' Alice smiled, 'somebody told my daughter about stars.' She raised an eyebrow at Jean.

'Really,' Jean smiled back, 'well if it works for big children too...' She turned to Lucie-Jean, 'Bobby and Jenny are in the garden, playing with the ball.' Jenny grinned and ran past Jean into the garden.

'Tea?' She offered Alice, as they went into the kitchen.

They sat at the table drinking tea Alice thanking Jean for everything she had done for her lately.

'Don't mention it, that's what friends are for.' She reached over and patted her hand.

'There is one more thing I would like you help with.' Alice looked embarrassed at the thought she didn't know how to engage a nanny.

'If I can.'

'I'm going to need a nanny for Lucie-Jean.' She blurted out.

'Why on earth would you need a nanny?' Jean couldn't work that one out. Alice was a one off, everybody knew that and accepted it, but why would she need a nanny.

'Well.' Alice sighed, 'I need to go back to work, soon.'

'Don't you want me to have her anymore?' Jean looked hurt.

'You can't look after my child all the time, Jean. That's not fair.' Alice sensed she'd got this wrong.

'Too old to look after three, am I?' Jean raised her eyebrow.

'No of course not.' Alice looked horrified that she'd offended her friend, 'it's just that I can't go on taking advantage of our friendship.'

'Twaddle!' Jean scoffed, 'she's happy here, isn't she?'

Alice nodded.

'The last thing she needs is change, especially now.' Jean poured more tea, 'she comes here and that's all there is to it.'

Alice knew when she was beaten but determined she would have to find a way to thank her, frequently. She daren't offer to pay, she knew that would offend Jean. Deep down she was more than grateful that Lucie-Jean would be safe and well looked after when she went back to work.

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This should fill in the gap between the end of 'With you to hold my hand,' where the ending is Ch3, she has a baby with Frank, and 'Missing', the recent story written for Kam.

There may be more, not sure yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Alice had been back at work for six months. Lucien had suggested she was on call to him only at first, when he needed a hand with an autopsy, and it suited her. She could drop Lucie-Jean off with Jean and her children where she knew she would be happy, and pick her up at the end of the day, often staying for dinner.

At home she and her daughter settled into a routine and life without Frank. They both said goodnight to him, through the window if it was cold and outside in the garden on warm nights. The first time it had been cloudy Lucie-Jean had been worried her daddy wouldn't see or hear her, but Alice assured her that daddy would hear her, but sometimes there would be clouds so the rain could water the plants. She was satisfied with this explanation because daddy had let her help him in the garden.

Now she was back at work properly, regular hours but she could pick up extra if there was a need. Frank had left her well provided for, his gambling debts long paid off and she had a portion of his pension, so as long as she was sensible she would be alright, and, as she said to Jean, they would not starve. Lucie-Jean was happy with Aunty Jean and the children and when Bobby was at school she still had Jenny to play with.

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Matthew Lawson had been brought back in as Chief Inspector on, originally, a temporary basis, until a permanent senior officer could be appointed. Melbourne saw that his injured knee did not hamper him in the performance of his duties and allowed him to continue, but still refused to raise him back to his former rank of Superintendant, just yet.

Alice had, at first, found it difficult to work with him. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she did, but he was where her late husband should be and it had been hard to see. He knew it would be difficult for her but he was prepared to keep a distance. He valued her as a pathologist and she and Lucien made too good a team for him to upset it. So he treated her with respect but did not engage her in small talk or unnecessary conversation and it seemed to work.

It took a particularly difficult case for them to get back to the easy relationship they had had before his accident.

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A travelling fair had come to town. Ballarat had enjoyed the distraction. Jean had suggested they take the children one Saturday afternoon, and the three adults had watched them on suitable rides for their ages. Alice had sat on the carousel with Lucie-Jean who had squealed with delight every time she saw Charlie wave at her. He and Rose had bumped into them, as they wandered round, Rose with her camera and Charlie off duty for a change.

The children had enjoyed themselves and were even more delighted to be allowed ice creams and candy floss after the rides. The afternoon wore Alice's daughter out and she had to be carried home, falling asleep in Uncle Lucien's arms. His own children ran on ahead just in sight of their parents. He walked Alice and Lucie-Jean home and carried the sleeping child into her house.

'Thank you, Lucien.' Alice took her off him, 'I'll put her straight to bed, she'll probably sleep through.'

'I should hope so, she's not stopped all afternoon.' He smiled and said good bye, he'd see her tomorrow. It had become an unwritten arrangement that Alice and Lucie-Jean had Sunday lunch with the Blake's and when Alice had said she should contribute towards the meal, Jean just told her if she must, she could do the vegetables. Alice prepared them at home and took them down to Jean to be cooked, it was an arrangement that suited them and assuaged Alice's guilt at allowing Jean to feed her so often, and babysit her daughter.

Monday saw the fairground pack up and leave the town. It took most of the day to pack the equipment up and tidy the site but by the time the schools were out the troupe was ready to leave, watched by the disappointed children. Alice took the opportunity to take her daughter into town to buy the new shoes she had meant to get on Saturday, before the shops closed, she was growing so fast. Jean took the children down to the station where she handed over her small charge and Lucien drove her and Bobby and Jenny home.

Shoes purchased, Alice took her daughter to her car and set off home. They waited at the junction as the fairground drove slowly past and Lucie-Jean chattered on, asking if it came back again, could she go on the carousel?

Jean looked through the rear view mirror at her daughter's excited face and was about to say of course she could when Lucie-Jean pointed at one of the trucks,

'Mummy. why is there an arm there?'

Alice looked in the direction of the truck, thinking there was someone larking about, but it wasn't. An arm was indeed hanging out of the frame of the Big Wheel, a trickle of blood down the shirt sleeve.

'Not sure sweetie,' She tried to smile. Lucie-Jean was too young to see such sights, 'can you see Charlie or Sergeant Hobart about?'

They both looked about until,

'Mummy,' Lucie-Jean pointed again, 'there's Mr Lawson.'

Alice hit the horn to attract Matthew's attention, he was watching the convoy make its way out of town, but turned when he heard the noise. He saw Alice wave and point to the truck now nearly past her.

Matthew walked quickly over to her, waving at the trucks to stop and blowing his whistle.

'Dr Carlyle,' he smiled as she wound down the window and looked into the car, 'Miss Lucie-Jean. What can I do for you?'

Lucie-Jean giggled while Alice turned off the engine and got out of the car, telling her daughter to stay where she was for a minute. She and Matthew went over to the truck and looked at the arm.

'Not good,' He said and pulled himself onto the flat bed. He looked round while the driver got out of the cab and came round to see why they had been stopped. 'Dr Carlyle, perhaps it would be a good idea if you took your daughter up to Jean, I think I'm going to need you and Blake.'

'What's up?' The driver asked.

'Seems we have a problem here,' Matthew pointed to the arm. 'Know him?'

The driver clambered up and looked inside the frame.

'Nope, not one of ours.' He scratched his head. 'Now what? Suppose we'll have to stay.'

'Tonight, at least.' Matthew agreed, 'can you get everyone back to the fairground? Nobody is to touch anything.'

'Do you want me to get the men, on my way past, Chief Inspector?' Alice offered.

'Thank you, doctor.' Once upon a time he had called her 'Alice', now he kept it formal at all times.

'I'll bring Dr Blake back with me.' She left him to work out what he was going to do, where the troupe would stay.

Back in the car Lucie-Jean had been bounding from one side to the other to try and see what was happening,

'What is it, mummy?' She asked as Alice started to drive off.

'I'm going to drop you off at Aunty Jean's.' Alice said, 'mummy and Uncle Lucien have to work.'

'Why?' Lucie-Jean knew mummy helped Uncle Lucien with solving puzzles, that's what mummy had called it, but she didn't see what the fairground had to do with that.

'It's a puzzle, sweetheart.' Alice answered, she wasn't going to go into detail with a nearly four year old.

'Oh.' Lucie-Jean knew she would get no more out of her mother, but one day, mummy had promised, she would tell her more about her 'puzzles'. When she was older!

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Jean was surprised to see Alice at the door, usually she went home after work and spent time with her daughter.

'Jean,' Alice sighed, 'I'm sorry, can you have Lucie? I need Lucien, we have a case.'

'Of course, you don't have to ask.' Jean let her in and whispered as Lucie-Jean went to find her friends, 'she can sleep with Jenny, if you're going to be late.' It wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last.

'Thank you, Jean.' Alice smiled, 'I don't know what I'd do without you.'

'No worries.' Jean made a mental note to nip up to Alice's and get her overnight things. Alice had given her a spare key to get things for Lucie-Jean if she had to work over and Jean had taken to collecting Alice's things when it happened. Alice had found she was not in the least bit worried that Jean went through her things, she had nothing to be embarrassed about, it was just one less thing to worry about.

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Lucien and Alice looked at the rather mangled body on the mortuary table. His face was almost unrecognisable. His nose had been broken, both cheekbones bashed in and his jaw broken and out of line. They examined each item of clothing as they removed it. Non-descript shirt, badly torn and covered in his blood, no identifying marks and most of the buttons missing. Singlet, cut over the sternum and torn over the left shoulder. His trousers were similarly damaged and stained hiding his twisted and scraped legs.

'Well, Alice,' Lucien stood back, 'this is a bloody mess.'

'It looks like he's been run over.' Alice suggested, 'several times. Surely it's not just a beating.'

'Hm...x-rays, I think.' Lucien looked quickly over the body to see if there was one particular injury that would cause death, or was it a culmination of most of them?'

While they waited for the x-rays they examined his clothing. Apart from the bloodstains there was evidence of machinery involvement; oil and other mechanical fluids stained the shirt and trousers, but hadn't got through to the underwear. There were machinery lines where the body had lain on the frame of the big wheel and drag marks on the back of his clothing.

The x-rays showed almost all of his bones were broken. His sternum had cracked, his ribs had punctured his lungs, his legs were shattered as were his arms and, apart from the obvious jaw and cheekbone injuries there was a fracture at the front of his skull and one at the back. He would never have survived the injuries, but, how had he got them?

They washed the body and started to examine in detail, starting with the head. The bruising had begun to show; Lucien surmised he had been dead for at least most of the day, possibly since the previous night. But who was he?

Lucien realigned his jaw and tried to get a sense of what he looked like in life.

Alice tipped her head to one side and thought back to the Saturday afternoon. She had a good memory for faces, almost photographic,

'I think I saw him at the fair.' She chewed the end of her pen, a habit she had picked up since Frank had died. 'He was by the candy floss stall, just watching. To be honest, I didn't like the way he seemed to focus on the children.'

'Right,' Lucien looked at her, he had noticed changes in his colleague since she had come back to work, still clinical in her observations but also more thoughtful. 'So you're thinking...'

'Bad things.' She admitted.

Lucien arranged for a photograph to be taken, when he had set the face as straight as he could. Copies would be taken round by the police was they questioned most of Ballarat, particularly families, after what Alice had observed.

The autopsy took long into the evening. Matthew came down to the morgue several times until Lucien told him to go away, he'd let him know when he had anything to tell him.

'Tell you what, Chief Inspector,' he said, 'take a copy of the photograph up to Jean, see if she knows him or saw him. Alice thinks he was at the candy floss stall and paid too much attention to the children.'

'Right.' Matthew shrugged his shoulders, he didn't like the suggestions.

'Dr Blake,' Alice called his attention to a particular part of the man's anatomy. 'severe bruising here and swelling.'

Lucien looked and winced. Matthew saw his expression and went over to look, he also winced.

'Ouch!' He whispered, 'looks like a two house brick job.'

'So I suppose that gives us the why.' Alice grimaced.

'I'll go and see Jean.' Matthew said, leaving them to their thoughts. If their ideas were right and he had touched or tried to touch any children he wouldn't have given the man a chance.

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Jean was surprised to see Matthew, she was just having dinner with the children so set him a place at the table and they discussed the picture. The children knew better than to ask what the adults were talking about, it was rude to interrupt. Bobby passed the photograph as he took his plate to the sink and stopped.

'He was at the fair.' He remarked and carried on.

'Bobby, do you know something?' Matthew didn't usually question six year olds in murder cases but if the boy could offer any information he'd be grateful. Most people did not give children the time of day in important matters, but Matthew did, they often saw what an adult didn't.

'He was at the candy floss place.' Bobby informed him, 'he smiled at me, it was creepy.'

'Thank you, Bobby.' Matthew squeezed his shoulder, 'Aunty Alice said she noticed him there, too.'

'Go and play in the studio, children.' Jean got up from the table and started to clear away. When they were out of earshot she suggested the very same thoughts Alice had had about the man.

'It's looking more like it.' Matthew dried the dishes for her, 'if it is, he was given a thorough going over, there isn't a part of his body that hasn't been touched.'

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The case rumbled on for days. The fairground workers were interviewed and their clothes and accommodation were subject to a fingertip search that even Alice took part in.

All the rides and equipment had to be taken apart and inspected, which the owner said was no bad thing, they had to inspect before and after every use, for damage and wear. Apart from where the man had been found there was no indication that the big wheel had been the instrument of his death.

The last ride to be inspected was a small roundabout, mainly used by the very young. Alice and Lucien's children had not been on that one, it was very busy and the children were too impatient to wait their turn so that was when they had taken them on the carousel.

It was Alice that spotted it, a tiny scrap of fabric that appeared to match the shirt the man was wearing, caught on one of the cogs of the mechanism. Without the seats on it the roundabout was set going to see how it worked. As the motor wound round Lucien and Matthew walked round it, each imagining the way a man could be killed but being pushed onto the cogs. They stood muttering together.

'If he fell on there then when the top wheel came round it would have stopped, crushing his ribs.' Lucien suggested.

'Yeah,' agreed Matthew, 'but surely he could have rolled out of the way?'

'Only if he was conscious.' Lucien answered. 'Think of the other injuries, the facial in particular. I reckon he was beaten into unconsciousness then thrown on to it.'

'And the other injury?' Matthew gulped when he thought about it.

'I think that's a message.' Lucien folded his arms and looked at his friend, 'remember Alice said he was hanging round the candy floss stall and watching the children and Bobby said he was creepy.'

'So are we looking for a group of fathers?' Matthew stood with his hands in his pockets, men who targeted children were, in his eyes, lower than low.

'Could be, or just someone who was protecting children in general.' Lucien observed, 'even someone who, in the past, has been subject to that kind of abuse.'

'Boss!' Charlie's voice cut through their debate. He approached them with a man who was showing the signs of a fight. Fading bruises on his face and, on inspection, his fists.

'Found this barker hiding in one of the trucks.' He pushed him forward.

Lucien examined the fists, he thought that if he x-rayed them he would find healing fractures, though the swellings had gone down.

'Take him to the station, Davies,' Matthew instructed, 'we'll have a little talk there.'

'Yes Boss.' Charlie walked away, tightening his grip on the man.

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'I warned him.' The man grunted in the interview room, 'told him if I caught him again I'd see to it that he never saw the light of day again.'

'Warned him about what?' Matthew asked.

'Told him to leave the kiddies alone.' He said.

'What had he been doing?'

'I caught him at our last stop.' he went on, 'touching a little lad. I belted him then, that's not right, what he was doing.'

'Why did you not just inform the police?' Lucien interrupted. 'Leave it to them?'

'I did, they did nothing.' He glowered. 'Then when I saw him watching the little 'uns at the candy floss stall I knew he was going to try again. He had his eye on a little lad that was with you.' He looked at Lucien.

'My boy did say he was creepy.' Lucien admitted.

'Bright lad that.' The man smiled.

'Mm.' Lucien agreed. 'But that still doesn't give you the right to take the law into your own hands.'

'How did I know you would be better at dealing with this sort of thing than the other lot?' The man leant over the table. 'We get a bad enough name as it is, if there's any crime in the towns, this is not one we want adding to the list. Theft and such like can easily be sorted, kiddies, well, that's a step too far.'

'Looks like he gave you a run for his money.' Lucien pointed to his bruises.

'He threw the first punch. I caught him with a little lad.' The man said. 'He was just about to start so I told the kid to beat it and he turned and belted me. I mean the kid shouldn't have been there, we were packing up, I told him to beat it back to school. We fought, he was a good fighter, but a kick to his balls brought him down.'

Lucien and Matthew winced again,

'I didn't mean to kill him, just make sure he never did it again. The motor started 'cause I fell on the handle, then I hit him one last time and he fell on the cogs. Self defence.'

Matthew stood up and took Lucien and Charlie out of the room for a quick conference outside.

'Self defence.' Charlie looked at the two older men, 'I'm not a father, but I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same.'

'So how do we do this?' Lucien asked. He'd have done more than kicked the man, a small incision with a scalpel...

'I buy the self defence.' Matthew said, thinking not only of the unknown boy but of Bobby and Jenny and Miss Lucie-Jean.

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Jean smiled as she heard the click of the lock. Not sure how many she was feeding that night she had made a large roast, remains, if any, would freeze. Sure enough, Lucien had brought Matthew and Alice with him. Alice she expected and she had a feeling that Matthew would be there too.

They waited until the children had left the table, although Lucie-Jean wanted to stay sitting on her mother's knee, before they discussed the case.

'So how are you going to charge him?' Jean asked.

'We're going to leave that to the magistrate. Nobody had come forward to claim the body so there's no one to plead his case.' Matthew sipped the whisky Lucien had poured, 'but I hope he gets off with self defence. Not that I condone what he did, but the other feller would have probably spent a life behind bars and when it was known why he was there...' Matthew didn't need to finish, child abusers usually got similar treatment in prison, and not just by the other inmates.

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Alice collected Lucie-Jean from her play and thanked Jean for looking after her during the case.

'Any time, Alice, you know that.' Jean smiled and kissed the sleepy child.

'Dr Carlyle,' Matthew caught up with her on the drive, 'take some time off, with pay, of course, you've gone above and beyond on this case.'

'That's very kind of you, Chief Inspector, but it is my job.' Alice almost smiled at his kindness.

'I insist.' Matthew stood with his hands in his pockets, 'Miss Lucie-Jean is a little more important than a few blood samples; and I'm sure Lucien can manage until next week.' He smiled.

Alice drove off remembering how sensitive to others Matthew Lawson could be and it wasn't his fault he was where he was. She pulled onto her drive and smiled as she thought how nice the next few days would be, just her and Lucie-Jean.

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Well, maybe Alice will soften towards Matthew now, and eventually they can be the couple I usually write them as. It take each of us our own time to move on from bereavement, some are quicker than others. Alice will take her time.


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